News

Hunt admits clumsy tackle

The Reading winger concedes to the recklessness of Cech challenge but denies intent

On Christmas Day, Reading’s country and western alliance of Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Shane Long gathered round the table and were fed royally by Long’s mother, Ann, who lives with him in the Berkshire town. Doyle and Hunt’s girlfriends had returned to Ireland for the festivities, so amid the usual banter the conversation inevitably turned to the year they had just enjoyed. Where would they start? There was the day back in October when the three amigos from rural Ireland had lined out against Arsenal at the Madejski, the less said about the 0-4 scoreline the better. There was Doyle’s running total of eight goals in his first Premiership season; or there was the startlingc progression Long, his teenage companion who arrived with him from Cork City, had made from the youth team into the first-team squad. And there was Hunt, who had generated more headlines than Doyle, Long